The Story

We are All Antarctica is a story about my father George W. Gibbs, Jr’s adventures as the first person of African descent to set foot on the continent of Antarctica. He sailed on the famous ship the USS Bear in 1939 to 1941 on Admiral Byrd’s III expedition to the South Pole. It was the first joint venture with the US military and private exploration. Gibbs went on to serve humanity in countless ways, paving the way for not only people of color in the community of Rochester, MN but for all people to become more human, serve their community and appreciate differences.

Through compassion, tenacity, faith and countless hours in the trenches, Gibbs’ life is a model for community service, equality and fun. As the lowest rank on the ship, he was honored for his contribution at a time when people with dark skin were considered less than human.

This story integrates my experiences with natural healing, the arts, the science of the ice, the metaphysics of the South Pole and the history of the expedition and its mystery.

Thursday, January 14, 2016

World's Largest Canyon Spotted Beneath Antarctic Ice Sheet!

Today, 76 years ago, is the historic day that George W. Gibbs, Jr, set foot on the West Antarctic Ice Shelf, making him the first man in the world of his race to do so. I woke up wondering what I would write to commemorate the day. Only to see this new discovery in the news, just announced on 1/14/16 in the Australian press.

“Our analysis provides the first evidence that a huge canyon and a possible lake are present beneath the ice in Princess Elizabeth Land,” (East Antarctica) Dr Jamieson said.

“It’s astonishing to think that such large features could have avoided detection for so long."

Read more at http://bit.ly/1ZxrVZnand here http://bit.ly/1URFT1D"The results of this analysis, published recently in the journal Geology, reveal a chain of winding features over 600 miles long and half a mile deep buried beneath miles of ice." This discovery will be confirmed later in 2016, trumps the latest finding in 2013 of Greenland's Grand Canyon. Due to satellite sophistication, "the age of discovery is far from over."The canyon is over twice the size of the USA's Grand Canyon. Hello Mother Earth!